- From: Erik van Blokland <evb@knoware.nl>
- Date: Tue, 27 Aug 96 01:18:29 +0200
- To: "w3" <www-font@w3.org>
>Michael Bernstein wrote: > >> TrueDoc creates new versions of existing fonts and distributes those >> new versions. In any country where the outlines are protected, that >> distribution is illegal if it's without the permission of the >> copyright owner for the original outlines. In the US, it's illegal >> for dingbat fonts and for fonts with design patents. Brad Chase: >TrueDoc performs the same function as a FAX machine. The difference is >that TrueDoc rasterizes at the receiver instead of the sender, allowing >the use of the best possible resolution. This is confusing. I'm given to understand, by the SWFTE case and others similar to that, that if I can prove that font B can be created from font A using some process, I have proven that the data from font B is actually derived from the data from font A. Font B is then covered by the copyright of font A, whether it is a textface or dingbat or whatever. Although I don't exactly know how a truedoc font is created, I can analyse the result of the font and see if font A always converts to the same bunch of truedoc data, simply by doing the conversion twice and comparing the results. Unless truedoc adds some random values to the data to make it conciously different each time, I would argue that a truedoc version of a font is still covered by the copyrights of the original, because the conversion procedure can be repeated. I don't even have to know how the format works exactly in order to use it. Perhaps just comparing bitmaps derived from truedoc renderings of fonts can illustrate the conversion procedure enough. Something to be tested in court? Keeping the format proprietary is not going to work as a protection of type, it is only a way of getting license fees. Adobe tried it with type 1 and only had a temporary advantage. Webfonts need to work on many platforms on many browsers for many different applications, many of which are outside the scope of what truedoc can do. Truedoc does not seem to be the general solution the webfonts issue is in search of. If only for the reason that the web has hopefully outgrown the fax stage already. erik van blokland, LettError type & typography Home of the Randomfonts, Trixie, BitPull & GifWrap. letterror http://www.letterror.com typelab http://www.dol.com/TypeLab/
Received on Monday, 26 August 1996 19:17:20 UTC